Visaranai Movie Review

February 3, 2016

3 minutes read

Review Overview

Performances

Screenplay and Direction

Technical Aspects and BGM

Another feather in the cap of Vetrimaaran's consistently fascinating filmmaking!

Vetrimaaran's Visaaranai is a spine-chilling take on the brutal torture methods devised by policemen in the name of prison investigations. It circuitously makes a solid socio-political commentary that we often tend to overlook in films that deal about high-profile crime cases. It is packed with extremely terrific performances, incisive writing and dramatic staging.

Cast: Dinesh, Anandhi, Samuthirakani, Kishore

Music: GV Prakash

Cinematography: Ramalingam

Art Direction: Jacki

PRO: Riaz Ahmed

Editing: Kishore

Written & Directed by: Vetrimaaran

Produced by: Wunderbar Films and Grass Root Film Company

Released by: Lyca Productions

Release Date: 05-02-2016

Run Time: 01:57:00

Vetrimaaran’s Visaaranai is a spine-chilling take on the brutal torture methods devised by policemen in the name of prison investigations. It circuitously makes a solid socio-political commentary that we often tend to overlook in films that deal about high-profile crime cases. The movie, which is based on the novel series ‘Lock Up’ penned by M Chandrakumar, boasts of extremely terrific performances, incisive writing and dramatic staging. Visaaranai is, without doubt, yet another feather in the cap of Vetrimaaran’s consistently fascinating filmmaking.

Throughout the film, there is a vehement demonstration of artistic brilliance that is pulled off with consummate ease thanks to the splendid lighting and up-close angles employed by cinematographer Ramalingam whose grim frames stir up emotions effortlessly. The third-act, which raises pertinent, discriminating questions on human rights and morality, will linger on for a while after you leave the theaters. While the first half is glutted with achingly creative probing techniques and gets resentfully insistent, the second half is where the film shifts gears into a gripping social drama, leaving viewers with a lump-in-the-throat poignancy.

If you are a worthy seeker of good Tamil films, there is no reason you should miss Visaaranai.

Spoilers Ahead…

Ironically, for a film which comes face to face with the depiction of ‘raw violence’ in the upper echelons of police force, Visaaranai opens in ‘Gandhi’ Park, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, where four Tamil-speaking daily wage workers including Pandi (Attakathi Dinesh) who is accompanied by three friends have taken shelter. When they are forcefully picked up by police to use as sitting ducks to drop the curtain on a high-profile case, we are shown the merciless strong-arm tactics exercised by policemen. Though there are few caricatured characters when the first half travels in Andhra Pradesh, it is compensated with occasionally humane dialogues to balance the sordid barbarity. A special mention to Dinesh who pulls off an audacious portrayal of Pandi with unflinching realness.

While the first half deals about how four innocent blue-collar workers unshackle themselves from the chains of the ‘system’, the second half takes charge of how a white-collar bigwig (KK) – played by Kishore in a whacking great performance – is brought to his knees despite being gifted with immense bureaucratic support and abundant wealth. (PS: After watching the film, read about SadiqBatcha). Also, there is no light at the end of the tunnel here. To bring a strong perspective from the other end of the spectrum, Vetri has come up with another substantial character called Muthuvel – played by the ever-dependable Samuthirakani – a conscientious police officer who is mired in a cobweb of political and bureaucratic corruption and is eventually bogged down by the ‘system’.

How the ‘System’ overpowers everyone irrespective of their social strata or caste positioning is laid open by Vetrimaaran with harrowing realism in Visaaranai.

The first half and second half in Vetrimaaran’s films have always been diametrically opposite – be it in Polladhavan or Aadukalam. That subtle metamorphosis between the two halves is absolutely bare-faced in Visaaranai where it happens organically, opening doors for drama, action, thinly-veiled allegories and subtle life-lessons.

The background score of GV Prakash lifts the mood of the film efficiently in the first half. The minimal sound in the second half is complimented beautifully by the skillfully competent editing of late Kishore, whose work shines especially in the nail-biting last few minutes that happen in a pitch-dark swampland.

There is a sublime duality in the screenplay. While the four inculpable wage earners literally walk through a crime scene in the first half during a reverse-engineered investigation, it is the policemen who bear witness and stage a suicide to whitewash the lock-up death of KK. The camouflaging of events is captured more vividly in the climax scene when the police faithfully orchestrate a living condition to bump off innocents.

The unintentionally poetic touches in the story surely warrant mention. When the second half begins, it is Ayudha Pooja time in Tamil Nadu. And Muthuvel asks for the help of the workers to ‘clean’ the dirt in the police station. He asks, “Police Station la Irukkara Azhukka Suththam Pannitu Poreengalaada?”

But, unfortunately, the smudges of impurity in the police station are never sanitized.

Another unwitting expression that I liked is how a henchman who is adept at passing off murders as suicides is named ‘Chandran’, whose fervent loyalty to the system is the only winner in the end. Another winner who made this film come to life is M ‘Chandra’kumar, who penned the novel series ‘Lock Up’, which inspired Vetrimaaran to make Visaaranai.

If you want to sum up the film in one line, this dialogue of Kishore could well serve the purpose: ‘System thaan perusu. We are all pawns’ (System is THE ultimate thing. We are all pawns). It justly epitomizes the fundamental significance of Visaaranai.

Written by Surendhar MK

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